The present invention relates to a multi-pole electromechanical switching device comprising principal contacts and auxiliary contacts housed in an arcing chamber, a contact carrier mobile in translation within the arcing chamber and carrying auxiliary housings for auxiliary contacts located in front of the principal housings for the principal contacts.
In switching devices, the mobile contact carrier, which holds the mobile contacts, moves in translation from the front to the rear inside the arcing chamber in such a way as to be able to separate or place these mobile contacts on the fixed contacts located on the arcing chamber. In general, when the housings of the auxiliary contacts are located next to the housings of the principal contacts following the same vertical plane, the insulation between principal and auxiliary housings can be ensured by a longitudinal wall, parallel to the direction of movement of the contact carrier, for example of the same type as the inter-pole walls of the principal housings. This wall can thus be easily produced in the contact carrier or in the arcing chamber, without hindering the movement of the contact carrier. However, when the vertical plane of the auxiliary contact housings is different, for example in front of the vertical plane of the principal contact housings, the insulation between principal and auxiliary housings must be ensured by a wall which is transversal (or perpendicular) to the movement of the mobile contact carrier, and which can hinder the translation movement if one wishes to keep the switching device small in size.
The aim of the invention is therefore to create a method for simple and compact insulation between the housings of the principal contacts and the housings of the auxiliary contacts, when these housings are in different vertical planes, without adding any supplementary part and still maintaining easy integration of the contact carrier into the arcing chamber during manufacture of the switching device.
According to the invention, the contact carriers comprise auxiliary housings for auxiliary contacts, these auxiliary housings being aligned transversally to the direction of displacement of the contact carrier and located in front of the principal housings of the principal contacts. Between the principal housings and the auxiliary housings, the contact carrier comprises a vertical insulating wall composed of several polar insulating side walls separated by inter-pole slits. In order to be able to insert the contact carrier easily into the arcing chamber, the latter is composed of two half-chambers assembled by interlocking and/or mutual clipping along a horizontal plane, such that at least one of the two halves has guide elements for the contact carrier and stop elements for it. Furthermore, each half of the arcing chamber comprises an insulating partition between principal contacts and auxiliary contacts.